Monthly Archives: May 2015

Posted onMay 29, 2015byPaul|Comments Off on Future of Iowa County Schools: June 2nd

Parents, grandparents and all concerned Iowa County citizens are urged to learn what the proposed Biennial State Budget will mean for Iowa County school districts and kids.

THE FUTURE OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS event, to be held Tues, June 2nd at the Mineral Point High School, 705 Ross St. Panel members will discuss the issues and clear up the confusion. So what’s the difference between public schools, voucher schools, public charter schools and independent charter schools – and which gets paid first (and last) out of state coffers? Are all publicly funded schools accountable to tax payers – if not, why not? What’s the future of local control?

The Alliance communications structure now has its Twitter account in play, so follow us @SCGA_WI. Keep track of announcements and news, and Tweet right back at us. And make sure to let us know if your grassroots groups has a Twitter account that we can follow!

Posted onMay 27, 2015byKaren McKim|Comments Off on Grassroots groups in action: GROW member appointed to Police Committee

One of the ways the South Central Grassroots Alliance intends to support local grassroots groups is to get the word out about their achievements and successes, like this one…
Concerned about police violence and eager to take a proactive approach to police/community relations in the Waunakee/Westport area, the Grassroots Organization of Waunakee invited Waunakee Police Chief Kevin Plendl to spend an evening with the group. Discussion was honest, energetic, and productive: the participants say it was one of the best such discussion meetings they have ever had.

Among other things, Chief Plendl explained how very important the hiring procedure was in shaping a responsive, responsible police force and described the role of the village’s Police Committee in hiring.

At last week’s GROW meeting, member Nila Frye announced that she had been appointed to that committee! Congratulations, Nila; Congratulations, GROW!

Does your local grassroots group have any recent achievements you would like to share? Let us know, because sharing our successes is one way to help make sure there are more of them!

Comments Off on Grassroots groups in action: GROW member appointed to Police Committee

Excerpt: “Until we come to the realization that the fundamental purpose of government is to help one another and raise each other up, we will not succeed. We believe in a government that has an active, vibrant commitment to serving its people. A government that promotes public infrastructure, education, health, transportation, and parks. We support these things not for the sake of profit, but because they provide a common good. After all, private prosperity cannot exist without a strong government standing behind it.

“Privatization means making the public good secondary and abandoning the sacred mission of our government. We must return our state to these shared values we all cherish: caring for each other in our communities and providing resources and opportunities for everyone to pursue a meaningful life. It is our moral responsibility to return our state to a government of, by, and for the people.”

I (Karen) am not enough of a political pro to read signs like this, but New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio has recently started a new project called the Progressive Agenda, “a set of proposals that build upon the work of dozens of economists, lawmakers and progressive activists, with the aim of addressing income inequality right now.”

I suspect this might mean he is positioning himself for higher office–maybe a run if Clinton falters– but IMHO, I’d like to see him in the race, and this Progressive Agenda effort seems to be built on a set of very good proposals, including:

Raise the federal minimum wage, so that it reaches $15/hour, while indexing it to inflation.

Reform the National Labor Relations Act, to enhance workers’ right to organize and rebuild the middle class.

Oppose trade deals that hand more power to corporations at the expense of American jobs, workers’ rights, and the environment.

The thing that I think sets this effort apart from some other progressive agendas I’ve seen is that this one has the courage to tackle the idea of raising taxes head-on:

Close the carried interest loophole.

End tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.

Implement the “Buffett Rule” so millionaires pay their fair share.

Close the CEO tax loophole that allows corporations to take advantage of “performance pay” write-offs.

Late last month, the Charlotte Observer observed national “Honesty Day” by asking readers to write in with what they would ask and of whom, if they could be assured of getting an honest answer. The newspaper itself posed three tough questions to three local politicians.

One reader, however, turned his question straight to the newspaper itself and asked, “Why do you support such a liberal agenda?”

The Wisconsin Public Education Network put out an alert this weekend: Monday and Tuesday will be critical days for expressing support for our public schools to the Joint Finance Committee. Their helpful Facebook post contains all the background and contact information you’ll need. (h/t Heather DB)

In case you haven’t heard the good news, Russ Feingold announced that he will run for the US Senate in 2016. Click on his name to visit his website and watch his campaign announcement.

And let every high-priced Super-PAC dark-money ad between now and November 2016 remind us how much we need to send people who are committed to campaign finance reform to the US Senate and every other elected office in the land.